IMPACT WRESTLING HITS & MISSES: Josh Alexander and Matt Taven in stellar main event, opening tag delivers, more

BY ROSS LESLIE, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

PHOTO CREDIT: Josh Alexander Twitter

SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...

HIT – Motor City Machine Guns vs Bullet Club: Fantastic opening match on Impact, which could have opened any pay per view event also. Alex Shelley has not lost a beat in his time away and the chemistry with his tag partner and the opposition was a joy to watch.

No real wasted moments in the match, everything was essential for the story they were telling and we, the viewer, could not have asked for more.

The match does highlight how much Jay White’s presence has given Impact a huge boost and hopefully something can be arranged for more appearances.

I loved the finish as it did create a bit of doubt as to whether or not it was a botch job, but it only highlighted how there was such slight difference in the teams that it took such a close call to end the match.

HIT – Rhino vs Steve Maclin: Very bruising match between two guys that excel at this type of match. Maclin winning clean makes a ton of sense as he continues a push in the background, as he looks to rack up a winning record so we may eventually see him get a title match in the distant future.

Nice touch that he won with the Gore. After the match Heath and Rhino had a heart to heart about getting the tag team back together again, which I assume means they might be Violent By Design’s first challenger potentially.

PARTIAL HIT – Bhupinder Gujjar vs Larry D: It was fine, not every match or segment has to be out of this world to make a quality wrestling show.

Gujjar does seem like he could be a star in this industry with a bit of work, he has a good look and seems to be moving in the right direction.

Larry D was fine, he got a lot in here, and can be used in the right way to give people wins.

HIT – Deonna Purrazzo vs Gisele Shaw vs Lady Frost: I really loved this match; my only gripe would be that it only got six minutes. I definitely feel the talent in the ring could have been given a bit more time to shine.

Very solid match for what we got. Purrazzo is, in my view, the best women’s wrestler anywhere at the moment in so many different ways in regard to presentation, look and move set. A huge fan of how she used a rapid, quick fire piledriver for the win, which shows her characters cunning and quick thinking.

HIT – Jonah vs Zicky Dice: Jonah squashes are always fun, and especially fun when it’s against poor Zicky Dice.

After the match was my low-key, moment of the week, was the return of PCO via stretcher to figuratively come back to life on the stage and then attack Jonah.

This was pro-wrestling at its very silliest and I loved it so much. The fans were proper into it, and I am glad we are guaranteed at least one more match between these two.

PARTIAL HIT – Masha Slamovich vs Arie: Another week, another squash for Slamovich. She is potentially very good and just hope we get the chance to see this soon in the form of a longer match.

MISS – Jonny Swinger Segment: Not for me really, although I can see how others might enjoy it. Nice to see Lance Storm on screen but it’s the classic “let it play out and see where it goes” segment, so I might be retracting my miss grade here as it could be leading to something fun. I think that is unlikely and this was just really the low point of the show.

HIT – Josh Alexander vs Matt Taven: Banging main event. Josh Alexander doesn’t really have bad matches, like, ever, but Matt Taven looked incredible here also. Tremendous attacking moves from both competitors made for a passionate match that you could have sworn had months of build, which shows the talent involved.

HIT – Moose Signs The Contract: Oh, this was really good stuff. Moose being an absolute jerk by turning up at Josh Alexander’s house to hand the contract to his family. Beautiful heel work, especially the line “I am your Daddy’s friend from work” to the kid. Kudos to Impact for not then showing Alexander in the ring reacting to what was happening as other promotions do that and it looks very contrived and a bit over the top.

Overall show thoughts: Another great episode with very few low moments. The world title build is fantastic, as well as solid developments in regard to other titles and current rivalries. The build to Multiverse of Matches and Rebellion continues.

The only negative for me is the booking of Honor No More, we talk about this a lot on our VIP Impact Podcast of course, but they lose far far too much at the moment.


CATCH-UP: 3/17 IMPACT WRESTLING TV REPORT: Machine Guns vs. Jay White & Chris Bey, Rhino vs. Steve Maclin, Josh Alexander vs. Matt Taven, more

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